18. SAMUEL

After I'd kissed him, I left him alone on the sofa. It wasn't like I'd meant to do it, not while we hadn't cleared up the boundaries. I was learning from my mistakes, it's what I knew how to do, and it's what I did best.

I came out of my bedroom half an hour later in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I was intent on going into the gym and working out the demons in my mind, but I walked back to the living room to see Leo curled up on the sofa, watching a cartoon about three bears.

"I'm sorry," I said. Words I rarely said, and if anyone knew I'd said them, my reputation would've decreased. I wasn't the man people went to for apologies, I was the one they went to because they needed something done. He looked up at me, wrinkles knotting on his forehead almost in confusion. "About the kiss."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I—I usually take whatever I want, but—"

Leo's expression eased as he smiled at me. "You took me already," he said, letting out a chuckle. "You basically told me I had to live with you."

"Yes, but I didn't want you to think you had to give me more," I told him, keeping a stern expression for him to know I was serious. "I'm a monster, sure, I'm a whole lot of things, but I'm not someone who forces an attraction where there isn't."

"So, you like me?" he asked, pulling his teddy bear to his face and hiding behind it.

I touched the side of his cheek and stroked him with my thumb. "I like that you're—someone I know about. It touches a part of me inside." I got on my knees and placed my head on the back rest of the sofa to look at him. "I'd never take advantage of that, and I don't want to now."

"But what if I wanted you to?" he moved the teddy to look me in the eye.

My head perked. "You—you what?"

"I know you treat me differently," he said. "I was thinking about it. You—you hurt that person who stole from you, and—"

"I killed him, but yes."

Leo shied behind the teddy once more. "It was scary, but you said you'd never hurt me, so you were different to me."

I reached for his face once again, this time, aiming to stroke at the mark I'd made on his cheek. "And I meant that. I didn't really have a game plan when I invited you to stay with me. My dad's death threw a wrench in the mix too. My assistant has been fending off calls since it happened from people wanting to know who is going to lead the firm."

"Won't you lead?"

"I'm trying. But I'm distracted." Leo was my distraction, it was more than just him being here, it was also him seeing me and being afraid he didn't like what he saw. I almost second-guessed my actions now. "Anyway, I don't—"

Leo pressed his fingers between mine and held my hand. "I liked it when you kissed me, and I'm not saying that because you're basically forcing me to be here, but because I wanted to kiss you too."

"You're too sweet to get involved with me."

He clicked his tongue at me, pulling us from the moment we were sharing. "I'm not that sweet," he said. "I once stole a small shipments of company phones and then sold them all, well, the guy I worked for at the time sold them all, but I made it into a building and back out with like a hundred grand worth of phones."

Leo was impressive. It was hard for me not to want him. Not only did we share something on a romantic level, but we also shared something on the criminal. He was a missing piece of the puzzle I'd been trying to fill. I wanted to say that to him, but it was too romantic for even those words to come out of my mouth.

He opened his mouth as the silence went on. "When you were drunk," he began, "you—you said something. I mean, now, I know it's because you saw me on the app, but—"

"What did I say?"

Butting his lips to suppress a smile, he finally let out a giggle. "I'm your Daddy now."

"Oh. I did." I held his hand firmer, pulling on it. "We can talk about that, if you want?"

He nodded.

"I—I have had many littles, not like you though," I told him. "You're special. You have something the rest of them didn't."

Gulping loudly, I saw his expression change, unknowing what it wanted to look like. His palm grew sweaty against mine. "What?" he whispered.

"You're the only one who's kept me interested," I whispered back. "There's so much to you I want to know, and I want to know everything."

"I'm—I'm—well, you can ask me anything."

I kissed the back of his hand. "What type of little play do you enjoy?" I asked.

"I—I like the things that make me feel fuzzy inside."

Joining him on the sofa, we laid, side by side, our faces almost touching as we talked about everything he enjoyed, and I enjoyed. He admitted to enjoying the kinkier side of the play, and I didn't object.

Everything that had happened recently left me vulnerable, but Leo's presence filled that void with his questions.

"I'm not—a mean Daddy, I like to be dominant and strong, both out here and in a bedroom," I admitted.

Leo's infectious smile wasn't fading. "I like being told what to do," he said. "I like it when you tell me I had to go to bed, or to get dressed, and to take a shower, but—but I prefer bubble baths because showers aren't fun, and—and you don't have any toys."

I remembered that about a previous little, but I never kept anything to do with them. What I had with them was fleeting, and often led to me spending a lot of money, only to throw or have it donated.

"If you want to do this, we can do this," I said. "I don't want you to think you have to. If it makes you uncomfortable, then say it. I don't mind."

"I want this," he barely moved his lips as he whispered it. "I promise. And I won't change my mind. You—you have done more for me than anyone else has in a while."

Things moved fast, it was the curse of being me, I wanted everything immediately. I should've been awarded a commendation for going as slow as I had with telling him I knew about his kink.

"Let's discuss ground rules then," I said. "You'll sleep in my bed now; you'll do as I say—"

Leo interrupted me with giggles. "You already told me I have to do as you say."

"That's true. And you must address me as Daddy."

Leo's body let out a shiver as he pressed it closer to mine. "I like that, Daddy."

"In that case, not much changes. You don't speak to anyone else. People are dangerous. I still need you as my assistant, I can trust you, right?"

"Of course."

"What else would you like?"

I watched the wheels spin in his eyes. "Are you being serious?"

"Anything." I had unlimited resources, and I was committed to giving everything I had to the person I was looking to please.

"Well, I like teddies, and colouring pages, and I also like onesies, and comfortable things," he said.

"Everything. It's yours."

"But those are rewards. You can't give me rewards unless I do something good, right?"

Stroking a hand behind his soft head of hair, he'd already done enough to be rewarded. "You do as I say, you get dressed in the clothes I ask you to, and you've kept all the secrets, haven't you?"

"Yes. Yes, I'll never tell anyone."

I kissed his forehead. "Then I want to reward you for being good."

"I also like being undressed and I like—other things." He wrapped his leg over mine.

"What are your limits?" I asked. "I'm a very different person in that way."

"Is that like, what positions I like?" he asked, raising his brows. "I like being on top and sometimes, I like being picked up against the wall."

I couldn't control the warm embrace of a smile on my face. "Your limits are where you don't go," I explained.

"Oh. Oh, ok. I don't—I don't like being hurt, so I don't like being spanked and—and I don't like that type of thing."

He was sweet. It was bedroom vanilla, with sprinkles of Daddy. I didn't mind that at all, some littles didn't like to take it into the bedroom at all.

Controlling myself from trying to take him there on the sofa, all the while the cartoon played in the background, I created reasons we needed to wait. I hated to rush things, I was a pre-meditated person, everything with a plan.

I kissed him just as someone knocked at the door.

The knock turned to a loud banging.

"Fuck."

"Naughty word," Leo gasped.

That was adorable. "Got to our room, and stay there, ok."

He nodded, jumping up. I saw the tenting in his onesie from where his cock was hard. Mine was too, but I tucked that sucker up into my waistband, concealing it just in case it popped up.

The banging continued. I grabbed a sharp butcher's cleaver from the kitchen and approached the door.

Through the peephole, I saw my cousin, Preston, furiously smacking his fist against my door.

Opening the door, I brandished the cleaver at him. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Sam," he said, gasping for breath. "It's my dad."

"Yeah?"

"He's—he's missing. I—I threw my phone against a wall, but—there's blood in the kitchen."

"When?"

"Now, last night, this morning, I don't fucking know." He slowed down and I saw his fists were bruised and bloodied.

"What have you done?"

"No, what have you done?" he asked, looking from the knife and back at me. "You know we don't do anything to hurt family."

I chuckled and welcomed him inside anyway. "Why would I take him?" I asked, leading Preston to the kitchen. I continued to hold the knife; I wasn't going to put that away until I figured out if Preston was a threat. "Uncle Bennett sides with me, he's the one that supported me stepping in while my dad was home."

"I don't know," he said, opening his hands to show the damage. "It's just—you put all these thoughts in my head about thinking I killed your dad, so I—I thought you tried to get back at me."

"Preston, the reason I thought that was because you were talking about him dying, and then he died." I cocked my head at him. "If I was going to get back at you, I wouldn't go for your dad, I'd go your throat. You know I would. And rinse your fucking hands, you're getting blood on the counters."

"I don't know what to do."

So now whoever it was who killed my father, they were coming for the whole family, first my dad, then Preston's dad. "We need to tell Elias," I said. "And—your brother and sister. I'll tell my mum too."

"If someone is trying to pick us off, they're not going to win," he said, rising his off his hands in the kitchen sink. "You're the acting head of the family. What are we supposed to do?"

"I'll think," I told him. "You should get your hand seen to as well. Surely someone at the tailor can stitch up those cuts."

Preston sighed. "Fine," he said, turning to the TV. "What the fuck are you doing watching cartoons?"

"It was just on," I said. "I tried to find the news."

As soon as Preston left, Leo appeared in the hallway, creeping out of the bedroom with his teddy tucked under an arm.

"Can I come out now?" he asked.

"Yeah. Let's—let's cuddle for a little while."

I needed him next to me, to lower the blood pressure throbbing through the large vein in my neck. And while he watched the cartoons, it gave me time and a chance to think about who could have a personal vendetta against the family. But that list wasn't getting any shorter anytime soon.